Journey to The New World

I was born in England in 1948
I was eight years old when my father left for Canada in 1956. He went ahead of us to make some money and to arrange things for when we arrived. I didn't mind as I was home with my mother and three other brothers. My oldest brother had signed up with the RAF and he stayed behind. To me it meant that if I did something wrong I would not get a "good hiding" (spanking) from my father, so that was comforting to me, as my father was a big man and had huge hands that really hurt my bare bottom!

Sixteen months later in November 1957, we were ready to leave. I was nine years old at the time. I remember my grandmother and grandfather at the airport before we boarded the plane (a four engine DC-7B propeller job). I remember I had a lump in my throat as we were saying our goodbyes.
I was sad about leaving them, my oldest brother and our black cat Lucky, behind.

DC-7B

We flew to Prestwick airport in Scotland and I remember we got off and had something to eat. I had turtle soup for the first and last time and then we took off across the Atlantic.
It was a ten hour flight across the ocean and we landed in Gander, Newfoundland where we stopped and refueled and headed to Montreal, Quebec. We got off the plane and went through customs there.
I remember I saw about two inches of snow on the ground and I was truly amazed by it. It was only the second time I had seen snow and it was the most snow I had ever seen.

Once through customs we again boarded a plane to Edmonton, Alberta. We were to stay overnight at the Airport Hotel.
Mum looked outside and saw the hotel about a mile away in the distance and decided we could walk over to it.
Carrying everything we owned in four big suitcases we set off. It was cold! The temperature was near -30F and there was about 3 feet of snow. We made a beeline for it. We had to climb over barbed wire fences and across fields through the snow. My Mum and brother Joseph, who was 14 at the time, broke trail through the snow with each of us hauling these massive suitcases. We finally made it after 45 minutes to an hour later and we were all frozen popsicles!

We stayed overnight and then caught another plane to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. This time we got a ride to the airport!

It was sometime about November 20 -21st. 1957 when we finally arrived in Yellowknife. Dad met us and we were all happy to see each other! We stayed in Yellowknife for a couple of days. It was about -32F and I was amazed at how cold it was and at the amount of snow on the ground. We went for a walk the next day and I saw this guy walking along the street with no coat, just a white shirt and black pants. His shirt was opened about three buttons. He worked in Discovery and knew Dad. Dad stopped to talked to him and introduced us. His name was "Coughdrop" Smith. I couldn't believe he was walking around dressed like that. I thought he must be crazy!

Flight Path

On November 22, 1957 we boarded an Otter owned by Wardair and headed for our final destination, Discovery Mine, NWT.

Wardair Otter

Discovery is situated about 80 km northeast of Yellowknife. The flight takes about 20 minutes.

We landed in the afternoon about 3pm and it was cold and a little windy. The sun was already low in the sky.

Discovery had a population about 150 people, mostly miners. There were about 20 or so families and about 12 or so kids at the time. The kids all came out to see us as they knew there were new kids coming to the mine.
My first impression was that they must be Eskimos!

And so my journey ended in this desolate place called Discovery! It was the beginning of my adventure in a new land.

Discovery was a "hard rock" gold mine....but that is another story to come soon!

I hoped you liked this small slice of history!

Discovery campsite.

Who is this man and what is his name?